Taxpayers' charter - fair use of our access and information gathering powers

Explaining and reviewing our decisions

We will provide you with a clear explanation of the decisions we make about gaining access and gathering information and documents.

We must use our access and information gathering powers in good faith. The law protects you from the abuse of those powers. For example, under the Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act 1977, decisions can be reviewed by the Federal Court and the Federal Magistrates Court.

Grounds for review include:

• use of the power was unreasonable
• the power was used in bad faith
• the power was abused.

The Act also gives you the right to get a free, written statement of our reasons for a decision - for example, if we have decided to issue a notice requiring you to give us information. However, even if you ask us for a statement of reasons, you will still need to give us the information we have asked for.

There are exceptions to this right under the Act. These include where powers are used in relation to the institution or conduct of civil proceedings, such as under the promoter penalty laws.